‘Sweeping Surveillance, Censorship’: Site Hosting Russell Brand Has Uncertain Future in UK

Observers are speculating whether the video sharing platform Rumble could become unavailable in the United Kingdom amidst regulations governing online content there. The new provisions are set to become law as British comedian and podcaster Russell Brand is under fire for alleged sexual assault.

Rumble, an online video hosting platform featuring content from Russell Brand and other prominent commentators, may be blocked or forced to cease operations in the United Kingdom. That’s according to analysts responding to recent tensions between the Canadian company and the country’s Conservative-led government.

The comments were published Monday in British newspaper The Times, and come amidst requests to various social media companies to demonetize Brand’s content by Dame Caroline Dineage, the chair of the UK government’s culture, media and sport committee. A new bill set to become law soon would also give the government’s television regulator Ofcom substantial new powers to control online content there.

“They [Rumble] don’t get a free pass,” said Lord Richard Allan, a former Facebook* executive who advised the government in writing the regulations. “When they get a letter from Ofcom saying, ‘Here are all the things you’re going to have to do,’ it seems to me the most likely reaction is going to be they’re going to say, ‘Well, we won’t operate in the UK any more.’”

The Canadian-headquartered social media platform had previously voiced their opposition to requests to prevent Brand from receiving income from the site, calling them “extremely disturbing.”

“We regard it as deeply inappropriate and dangerous that the UK parliament would attempt to control who is allowed to speak on our platform or to earn a living,” said Rumble’s chief executive Chris Pavlovski in a statement on X.

Rumble is already unavailable in neighboring France after the company refused to agree to the country’s demands to remove accounts for Russian state media, including Sputnik. French internet service providers have blocked the site there since November 2022.

The United Kingdom’s new Online Safety Bill, recently passed by its parliament, is set to become law after receiving royal assent, a usually perfunctory process under which legislation must receive official approval from the country’s monarchy.

In order to continue operating in the UK, the law would compel platforms like Rumble to remove content deemed illegal in the country, including material that incites violence or race hatred under the country’s laws.

The bill also stipulates regulation of a new category of material that, while legal, is considered “harmful,” a concept recently dubbed by X platform CEO Linda Yaccarino as moderation of “lawful but awful” content. Finally, the law would force platforms to make efforts to prevent minors from viewing certain material.

The law enforces criminal liability for senior managers of large online platforms, meaning executives of Rumble or other companies could be arrested for noncompliance if they visit the United Kingdom.

Comedian-turned-podcaster Russell Brand is currently under scrutiny after a joint investigation by UK media publicized claims from four anonymous women alleging sexual misconduct by the British comedian between 2006 and 2013.

Among the claims was an accusation of rape by one of the women, corroborated by medical records discovered from a rape crisis center. An additional woman came forward to police shortly after the report with an allegation of assault in 2003.

Brand has denied the claims and has yet to be charged with any criminal offenses. A critic of mainstream media and the UK government, he’s also condemned the new Online Safety Bill as “a piece of UK legislation that grants sweeping surveillance and censorship powers.”

The comedian formerly identified himself as a “socialist” and supporter of former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, although he’s interviewed figures from across the political spectrum as part of his online podcasts. Controversy surrounding the media figure prompted the late English political and cultural theorist Mark Fisher to write an influential essay about online political culture in 2013.

Rumble, a video sharing website known for promoting “free speech,” is sometimes criticized for controversial content although its terms and conditions forbid racism and antisemitism. The company also owns the Locals crowdfunding platform and the podcasting site CallIn.

Online content regulation and the phenomenon of “fake news” have been prominent concerns in Western politics since the election of former US President Donald Trump and the UK’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016. Polling shows only 34% of Americans have trust in the country’s mass media institutions.

*Meta is banned in Russia as an extremist organization